Extra Terrestrial
by Serena Sparks
Summary: "If I had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate, to say that for destruction ice is also great and would suffice." - Robert Frost  Loki/OFC
1. Hocus Pocus

Hello again! Here goes my first shot at an original character…and God does it make me nervous. I just needed some variety in my writing, so I invented a cute little protagonist. She's a red head, because honestly, **I don't think there are enough ginger protagonists out there**.

I've never been a fan of romantic Loki. Frankly, I view him as the opposite. **Angry**, **cold**, and** calculating** are how I see him. Not that he doesn't care, he just wouldn't be very…he wouldn't be a lovesick fool.

So here we are. Welcome to E.T. (inspired by the Katy Perry song). Each chapter has a song/quote to set the mood. Looking the songs up and listening to them is optional but recommended. The titles of the chapters are the song title, and the name following them is the artist/band.

**This WILL become M later on!**

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><p><strong>Hocus Pocus<strong> (by Gary Hoey)

Heidi was nothing if not thorough. It was of this she reminded herself as she combed the massive rune on the ground before her. Her hands were caked in dust so thick that she couldn't see the freckles on her knuckles. Blowing her bangs from her face before tying back her lengthy hair for the fifth time, she continued determinedly.

Since her employment at S.H.I.E.L.D., Heidi had yet to achieve anything spectacular. She had promised them progress, but so far all she had presented them with was massive headaches. She had spent the past six years getting her Master's Degree in Scandinavian Language and Culture, a degree which her parents insisted was worthless and sure to leave her living in her childhood home with no means to support herself. Thanks to S.H.I.E.L.D. she had proven them wrong. She now had the highest government security clearance possible and was expecting to make six figures a year.

'Worthless? No. Tedious and frustrating? Yes,' she huffed mentally as she again sat in the center of the Bifrost marking and sighed. She spared a glance to the sky and noticed it was already getting dark. Desperate to find something, she snapped a few more pictures. Her skin was sticky with sweat from the heat of the day and the chill of the desert at night had her shivering slightly. But her frustration kept her stubbornly vigilant.

"Dr. Brown!" Heidi clenched her eyes shut in frustration as Agent Phil Coulson beckoned her yet again. "Progress report?" he asked as he reached the edge of the massive Celtic Knot in which Heidi sat.

"Um…well…it's a Celtic Knot. They were, eh, used as a symbol of protection and power by the Vikings…" she stumbled over as many impressive sounding words as possible to avoid telling him the truth: she was no further now than when she had begun over a week ago.

"I understand, Dr. Brown. Perhaps you should return to base and continue your research there," Coulson mused. The glint in his eye told Heidi she shouldn't protest. Suppressing a sigh, she stood, nodded, and headed to the black Acura waiting for her. Climbing in the back, the agent in the driver's seat drove her home.

Resting her head against the window, she began to relax. The Bifrost had been broken for nearly a year. Dr. Jane Foster as well as S.H.I.E.L.D. had remained vigilant. Letting a long overdue sigh pass her lips, Heidi closed her eyes and began to mull over the information she had obtained thus far.

At base, guarded heavily in a glass containment cell, were two very important… artifacts. A relic she recognized as the Casket of a Thousand Winters (as the Vikings had referred to it in their many books of history) and the God of Mischief himself, Loki Odinson. She was leery of the god and therefore hadn't yet mustered the courage to see him for herself.

From what she knew of Loki from mythology, he was not one to be trifled with. Then again, mythology had led her to believe that all of the gods had perished in Ragnarok many hundreds of years prior and this was obviously not the case. She had basically decided that all she knew of mythology was slightly skewed and that she would have to use the parts that appeared to be truth to decipher what exactly they were dealing with and how to deal with it.

Heidi opened her grey-green eyes again and watched the desert scenery fly past, lighted only by the dimming sun and the rising moon. There was nothing spectacular about her or her life; she was a normal girl with an average sense of prettiness about her. Her skin was tanned given her golden red hair and that was about as unusual as she was. She was one of the many nameless faces S.H.I.E.L.D. employed in situations such as the one at hand. She knew this job was going to be dangerous when she took it, but after living a life so _uninteresting_ she felt the promise of adventure call to her spirit.

Though the adventure she had since encountered was a bit…intimidating at best. She had nightmares about the gods' wrath towards her for her inability to rebuild the Bifrost. 'Which is absurd,' she had mused. She wasn't even part of the S.H.I.E.L.D. division constructing the Rosen bridge machine; she was there to observe anything mythical or Nordic and report her observations. The most poignant dream, or perhaps nightmare, had been about _him_.

Loki had invaded her nightmares only once. No matter what Heidi did, she couldn't shake the apprehension that had followed her ever since. It wasn't particularly distinctive, but more disturbing on a basic level. The dream's details were fuzzy, including the god's appearances, but the baser sections (a feather light brush of skin on skin, the feel of his cool breath on her neck) were vivid.

When they arrived back to the base S.H.I.E.L.D. provided for the agents on duty, Heidi felt much more fatigued than she had initially realized, though her mind was active. She made it to the front doors of the apartment-like complex and stopped in thought. She contemplated working; on what, she was unsure. But she was restless. She knew exhaustion wasn't conductive to her work, so she decided to at least deposit her equipment and notes in her small office before heading to bed.

Turning on her heel, she walked across the street to the large building (formerly Jane's tiny, make-shift lab) that held all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s laboratories and offices. Typing in her code and pressing her hand against the smooth glass, the door beeped twice and allowed her access. As consultant, Tony Stark had "donated" (at the very forceful request of Commander Fury) much of his sleek technology, including his security and a link to J.A.R.V.I.S..

Walking quickly, her dusty lab coat and tennis shoes left a trail of filth behind her. Looking back embarrassedly, she vowed to apologize to the cleaning staff in the morning. She pushed forward at an impressive walking pace until she reached _the _corridor. Unfortunately, her office was within the containment cells and storage units. Agent Coulson had explained that it was for ease of access, as she was studying bits and pieces of relics found in the desert.

She shuddered hard as the feeling of unease began to seep through her veins like ice water. Call it sixth sense or intuition or whatever have you, but Heidi _knew_ not to be near Loki. It was engraved in her baser instincts, prohibiting her from merely brushing off the feeling as silliness and proceeding. It took her a full three minutes to gather her wits and place her hand upon the glass to unlock the door.

"Welcome, Dr. Brown," J.A.R.V.I.S said amicably, making her jump at the sudden intrusion of the silence of this half of the building.

"H-hey J.A.R.V.I.S.," Heidi said once she had gained her voice. As soon as she stepped through the door, the hair on the back of her neck stood to attention. She took it as a warning from her instincts to move quickly and silently to her destination and not waste any time.

Loki's presence was massive and suffocating. She gasped for breath; the air was thick with tension and her fear. The fact that she was the only one that felt this baffled her and worried her. The possibility that Loki was intentionally making her uncomfortable reared its ugly head and she shook herself to rid the feeling. The thought that she had drawn that God of Lies' attention was unnerving.

'You are imagining it,' she thought, closing her eyes and moving silently and swiftly though the hall. 'You have done nothing to drawn his attention. He's never seen you and you've yet to see him.' She sighed in relief when she found her office was only a few steps away.

Punching in her code number softly, she swiftly entered her office and deposited her things on her desk. She decided she would organize her belongings properly tomorrow, when there were other agents lurking in the building. Closing the door softly behind her, Heidi didn't hesitate to sprint down the hallway, anything to rid herself of the feeling of Loki's aura that surrounded her.

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><p>Loki had always prided himself on his modulation.<p>

Strong emotions were not a necessity and were often a hindrance and so Loki decided to avoid them at all costs. On only a few occasions had he lost his prized control: one being in the Bifrost chamber and another being this moment.

The cot he had been provided was upturned, ten feet away from where it had once sat. The only evidence of his tantrum other than the bed's misplacement was the thin sheen of frost that encompassed the room.

'No magic, but plenty of _genetic_ abilities,' he thought bitterly. Standing, arms crossed and leaning against the wall, Loki surveyed the damage with an acidic smirk.

Dusting off his under armor (the actual metal bits had disintegrated as he broke through the atmosphere) Loki touched at the slowly healing wound to his forehead and winced almost imperceptibly.

He felt a slight twinge of regret when he recounted everything that had lead to this, but now was not the time for "what ifs". At this point, Loki not only had nothing to lose, but he had all of the time in the world to gain whatever he desired. He smiled wryly. Oh how Thor must love that Loki sleeps so near to his beloved. He chuckled lightly. He was truly overdue for some fun in this realm. He skin itched with longing for the rush of adrenaline that accompanied mischief. Goading Thor was rewarding, but not as rewarding as it had previously been. On Midgard, Loki could not physically see and hear Thor's cries of outrage and anger. He needed a new plaything. A new toy, if you will.

Sighing uncharacteristically, Loki pushed his back from the wall. He lifted his cot right side up and placed the flimsy mattress back on the frame. He sank into it uncomfortably. This lack of full magic matter was becoming a major nuisance. Hearing the slight click of the door across the hall opening, he smirked. The odd scientist was back. He knew the sound of her voice and the feel of her presence very well, but had yet to see her. He felt her near to him every day.

He could almost taste her apprehension as she entered the area near his cell. He was fairly certain she was the only agent who hadn't come to gawk at the fallen god. Her office was just across the corridor from his cell and yet she hadn't even peeked.

He heard the sound of her door shutting and what sounded like sprinting footsteps disappearing down the hallway. Loki's emerald eyes twinkled. He had found his newest plaything.


	2. Ridin' the Storm Out

**A/N:** Hey! Sorry I've been M.I.A. I was on vacation last week and this week I ended up with 23 hours at American Eagle. So I've been ridic busy. It may be worse coming soon, as I have an interview with a newspaper about a reporting job tomorrow. (YAY!) But here is chapter two. It's short (a transitional chapter) but the next chapter is already this length and I'm not finished with it yet. I have an outline with the progression of this story set up, so it's just a matter of writing it all out!

Sorry again, and here is chapter two!

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><p><strong>Song:<strong> Ridin' the Storm Out (REO Speedwagon)

"_Ridin' the storm out, waiting for the thaw out."_ (Ridin' the Storm Out, REO Speedwagon)

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><p>Heidi was fantastic practice for Loki's magic.<p>

She was just so damned _interesting._ Her fears bordered on paranoia (Loki often times just had to sit in his cell and stare at the glass door for her to skitter away like a mouse from a starved cat) and every time she was startled, a squeak accompanied it.

When Heidi had finally gathered up the shattered remains of her adult-pride and braved a look inside Loki's cell door, all it had taken was for his eyes to meet hers and a smirk to grace his features before she squeaked quietly and bolted. Loki actually chuckled out loud and suppressed an eye roll. This was _too easy. _Loki leaned his head against the wall behind his cot and smiled maliciously to himself, eyes closed in a noiseless laugh.

Heidi's high heels clicked softly on the smooth flooring of the S.H.I.E.L.D. building. Under one arm was a college text on Norse runes and under the other was a cluster of paper work. She moved swiftly down the hallway, a coffee cup in one hand and her cell phone in the other. She was nearly to her office door when the familiar tingle shot down her spine; this time was different in that a smooth voice inside her mind was attached to the feeling.

"_Hello, Heidi."_ Heidi dropped everything she was holding and slowly turned her head to the cell door beside her. As her eyes reached the door, she saw Loki standing nearly against it, a mischievous glint in his eyes, arms crossed across his chest. Her eyes grew large and she sprinted for her office door and slammed it, the contents of her arms still strewn across the floor.

A full blown grin spread across Loki's face. It was like taking candy from a child.

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><p>Heidi was growing more wary of Loki and had the distinct feeling that he was tormenting her for his own sick sense of pleasure. While that infuriated her, she had no qualms with letting him trick her until he tired of her. Confronting the god was completely out of the question. Sighing at the familiar prickle at her neck, she punched in the code to her office and slipped inside. As her eyes rose from the floor to her desk, her breath caught in her throat.<p>

Upon her desk was a cacophony of items. The chair was balancing by its back, upside down, on the top of her desk. Upon the bottom of the chair was a globe, on top of it in a rather impossible fashion was all of the books she had kept from college. The tower reached the ceiling and stood perfectly still, despite the door slamming shut automatically behind her. Hands on her hips, she grimaced. This was a prank a six-year-old would play. She supposed it was because of her naturally wary disposition that Loki had chosen something so playful with which to torment her. A nagging feeling in the back of her mind told her that next time she wouldn't be so fortunate.

Sighing, she left her office. She flagged down a guard in the hallway, pointed to her office, and stormed off, leaving a very confused guard to enter her office. Heidi heard a loud crash behind her and rolled her eyes.

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><p>Heidi had been cooped up in her office all day. She had finally made a breakthrough in her efforts and hadn't wished to stop for any breaks. It was nearing 6 p.m. and she hadn't eaten, though she had had four cups of coffee. Closing her eyes and stretching like a cat in her chair, she sighed. Upon opening her eyes, she was met with darkness. Her heartbeat picked up. She waved her hands in front of her face; nothing. Her heartbeat began to race and she trembled as she turned her head every which way in an attempt to see something, anything.<p>

Panicked sweat began to gather on her forehead and the back of her neck. Whimpering she stumbled to her door, navigating by feel. Once she made it into the hallway, she walked a few steps before collapsing in a fit of panicked sobs. An agent from further down the hall dashed her direction and knelt beside her sobbing form. When she looked up to him, he was shocked to see silvery-white irises.

"I can't see!" Heidi sobbed. The agent sat stock still and gaped at the woman open-mouthed for a few moments before regaining his wits and radioing for Agent Coulson. Heidi sat on the floor on her hands and knees panting from her sobs just to the left of Loki's cell door. If she could see, she would have seen him peering out of it with a triumphant grin gracing his features.

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><p>The incident with Heidi's eyes had made both Coulson and Fury very wary. Loki was obviously getting stronger. He was wreaking havoc on Heidi and they felt that his actions were tests of his strength. They were both worried as to what Loki was capable and both feared that one day they would approach his cell to find him gone. They feared not only for Jane Foster on that day, but also for Heidi. He had shown a peculiar interest in her and they were afraid he was privy to what she had discovered concerning repairing the Bifrost.<p>

Not that Loki returning to Asgard and away from Earth was a bad thing— Coulson was sick of him screwing with guards and distracting and frightening Heidi—but having Loki in Asgard probably meant conflict between he and Thor. And conflict between Loki and Thor was bad news for S.H.I.E.L.D. The more Coulson thought about it, the more the possibility that their conflict be pulled to Earth seemed probable. With an agitated sigh, Coulson rubbed his temples with his right hand before heading down the hall towards the infirmary to check on Heidi's recovery.

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><p>Heidi was slowly regaining her sight, beginning with blurs and moving on to solid shapes. Despite her vision returning, her irises seemed to be stained with permanent flecks of white, making her features a bit more frightening to behold. Her once striking grey green eyes were tainted permanently by Loki's recovering magic. She spent most days sitting on the window seat in her office and staring into the blurry desert. She knew the entirety of S.H.I.E.L.D was worried for her, but she was apathetic. The thought of Loki <em>haunting<em> her for the rest of her life left her somewhat numbed.

She felt a shift in the air of the room and her unseeing eyes turned toward the disturbance warily.

"Who is there?" she asked meekly. She was met with silence. She gave up and turned her face back to the warmth of the sun. She only had her back turned to the presence for a few moments before she felt a tinge of icy air on her throat. She lifted a hand tentatively to her neck and was shocked when she encountered a quickly melting layer of frost where the air had touched. Her head whipped around violently only to be met with the familiar blurs of her office furniture and the presence's absence. She again lifted her hand to her damp neck and shuddered. She had a decent guess as to who had just visited her.

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><p>Loki was gauging the return of his magic in how effective his mischief on the small scientist proved to be. He let the green flames lick his palms and mused at how well he was recovering. The plans he had for this world, particularly Jane Foster, once his recovery was complete were nothing short of malicious. He may only be toying with Heidi, but she was different and a slight exception. In all his musing, he had at least considered allowing her to live and that fact alone set her aside from the others. The small piece of him that was still capable of affection had a strange attraction to the petite female. Maybe it was her naiveté and intense curiosity that drew him to her, perhaps it was lust. He decided it didn't matter. Dwelling on it would be a distraction and in Loki's plans, distractions were fatal.<p>

Loki glanced around at the sparkling sheen of frost that had gathered around his feet. He had decided that in the absence of his magic, some of his baser abilities had surfaced. The frost was difficult to control and seemed to only make an appearance when he was feeling particularly emotional. Since his extensive contact with the casket, his natural abilities had reared their head more frequently.

He tested his breath on his hands and watched in barely disguised fascination as frost appeared and disappeared quickly. He hadn't expected his breath to crystallize on Heidi's neck when he had paid her a visit earlier that afternoon. He was so surprised that he stood rooted to his spot beside her for a few moments before teleporting back to his cell with his mind in a cloud of confusion. He had heard the musings of guards and knew his stunt with the temporary blindness had left her a changed woman.

He held on to the hope that his Asgardian façade would hold out. Inevitably Jotun or not, Loki wasn't too keen on embracing his heritage. He imagined his body temperature had dropped considerably. It would be difficult to pass as human if he froze his acquaintances every time he shook their hands, as human custom dictated.

Lying back against his uncomfortable cot, Loki allowed himself to drift into a restless sleep. He would need his energy.


	3. Ask the Lonely

**CHAPTER 3 – Ask the Lonely**

_Sorry I have been gone for so long! I had vacation, then between my reporting job and working retail, I have had NO SUMMER. Now I'm only two weeks from moving back to school and I'm so behind on this._

_This past Saturday, I saw Journey, Night Ranger, and Foreigner in concert. Life changing. Anyway, when Journey played "Ask the Lonely" it lodged itself in my brain and stayed there. So when I revised and completely recreated this chapter, I listened to it. I scrapped the original and rewrote it with that song as a basis. **PLEASE LISTEN TO THE SONG OR READ THE LYRICS FIRST. It's actually important this time.**_

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><p><em>"As you search the embers, think what you've had, remember...When you're lost in deep despair, you just ask the Lonely." (Ask the Lonely, Journey)<em>

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><p><strong>To say that Heidi had hardened since her employment began was an understatement.<strong>

She had been hired for her brains, not her brawn. While a sense of cunning strength was a perquisite for employment with S.H.I.E.L.D. physical strength and an unusual sense of stoicism was not; particularly not amongst the more bookish scientists. Loki's interest in Heidi had caused quite a shake up, however. Suddenly even the most cautious and frightened scientist walked with a deadly calm to their step, feeling more confident by subsequent training exercises and a dash of experimental gene therapy.

In the second month of Heidi's recovery, amongst numerous surgeries and tubes of unidentified muck surging through IVs, a change had begun. Trapped unconscious within her thoughts as the medical team fussed over her sight, Heidi began to reflect. She reflected on her life, from her typical suburban life on a cul-de-sac, her average college years, her mediocre retail and fast food jobs, and finally her break into the government field. But how far had she really come since adolescence? She flinched at her own shadow, she had difficulties meeting people in the eye and often doubted her own work. She was thus far unsure of why S.H.I.E.L.D had chosen her in the first place. Part of the reason, she knew, was that she kept little contact with home. She wasn't quite a liability. Mentally shaking herself, she began to harden. This wasn't the sandbox, this wasn't the high school locker room. This was real life, and despite it feeling a bit like a Douglas Adams novel, she had to face that she couldn't be a child any longer.

Facing the music also brought her to the realization that Loki could be interested in what she knew of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s work as well as how it correlated with her intensive Scandinavian knowledge. Heading back to Asgard was most likely out of the question for him for now, but he may want an audience for whatever he concocted for Midgard, and who better than his brother as a spectator?

While musing her in medically induced coma, Loki had made his move. The guards had entered to deliver his meal, and by the time they had opened the door and stepped inside he had vanished. Couslon was unsure as to whether the Loki they had seen on the monitors had been an illusion (meaning he had been gone for hours) or whether he had needed the door opened to escape. All they knew was that within a half hour, Jane Foster was found with severe burns and frostbite along her neck and arms unconscious on the floor of her modest bedroom.

Jane was currently being held in the S.H.I.E.L.D. medical facilities with both wrists broken and severe frostbite, to the point of blackened skin, to her throat. She had been discovered in a heap on the floor of her apartment unconscious and had yet to wake. No one was entirely certain as to what had happened, but any conclusions drawn involving Loki and his infamous wrath were assumed accurate.

Commander Fury was livid. He had immediately called a meeting of all agents and scientists in a barely large enough conference room. As they filed in one at a time, a team of doctors wheeled in Heidi, heavily bandaged and mostly lucid. She was wheeled alongside Commander Fury and Agent Coulson with an armed guard behind her. She sat calmly with her hands folded in her lap, ears nearly twitching with the strain of understanding her surroundings at the loss of her sight.

As a hush fell over the room, Heidi began to feel a crawling feeling along her spine. It felt as though a snake were beneath her skin, ascending the vertebrae. Commander Fury began to speak, but Heidi couldn't hear him; she focused all of her energy into understanding the foreign feeling.

'Not foreign', she thought. 'I know this feeling well.' The tiny hairs on the back of her neck prickled to life and she shuddered at the brush of Loki's presence against her own. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut beneath her bandages and willed the feeling away, attempting, in vain, to make Loki leave her. At the sound of her name, Heidi felt her chair wheeled beside Fury on the makeshift stage. A muscular arm helped her stand and a doctor removed her bandages. Blinking timidly, the hazy images began to focus slowly until finally her vision was crisp and clean. She missed what Fury said, but the room applauded for her recovery, with the credit being due to her team of doctors. Smiling softly, Heidi moved to sit to Fury's left, behind him on the small stage, yet not even the presence of the greatest agents S.H.I.E.L.D. had to offer comforted her about the creeping feeling along her spine.

Fury spoke for thirty minutes, but to Heidi it felt like mere seconds. The many scientists and various agents and brutes pulled themselves along the short distance to their apartment complex. Being home, they knew, would not bring them comfort. With Loki on the prowl, and Heidi feeling his presence near her as a persistent tingle, the last thing they wanted was to be alone in their apartments.

Unlocking the door shakily, Heidi slid inside her apartment and shut and locked the door behind her, knowing the action was futile. Releasing her hair from her ponytail, she ran a hand shakily through her long hair. Exhaling in a long, stressed fashion, she moved across her bedroom, shedding clothing as she went. By the time she reached her bathroom, she was stark naked. Loki's presence had finally dissipated and Heidi planned to take full advantage of that fact and relax in her shower.

As the water heated up, she inspected herself in the full length mirror on the back of her bathroom door. There were bruises and scrapes all up and down her legs and back, a few places scraped so badly they looked like road rash. Sighing at the sight, Heidi stepped into the shower, wincing at the contact of the water to her scrapes. Sighing deeply, Heidi let the warm water relax the aches and pains from her lithe frame and surrendered herself to the comfort of the warmth for the next hour.

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><p>Loki was quite proud of himself. Once he had regained enough magic, he was gone. He didn't hesitate and not once did he falter. After sneaking through the guards, who were far more helpless than they realized, he made a beeline for his first target: his brother's lover.<p>

It didn't take him long to locate her, even running on intuition as he was. He approached her door and closed his eyes and focused. When he reopened them, he was standing at the foot of her bed. He started out by calmly observing. After a few long moments, he felt the anger begin to boil within him, rising rapidly and threatening his already injured self control. He closed his eyes and exhaled loudly through his nose in an attempt to keep from simply slitting her throat where she lay.

'Ah, but where is the gratification in that?' he mused internally. 'She should suffer as I have…as I _am_.'

In a movement too quick for the human eye to register, Loki lifted Jane by her neck and pinned her to the wall above her bed. Her eyes opened quickly and she gasped. Upon her gasp Loki tightened his grip, preventing her from inhaling. She gasped for air and gripped his arm tightly in an attempt to have him release her. Prying her small hands from his right arm, he roughly pinned both her wrists above her head. Loosening his grip on her neck, he leaned in by her ear.

"_You," _he hissed lowly and venomously. "You are the bane of my existence. You have completely unraveled my entire life."The last word he spat in her face, snarling slightly. "I have nothing to lose, _girl,_ nothing at all. If you think your death will be swift, you are sorely mistaken. It will be slow and tenacious. A building inevitability, a fever you will _never_ sweat out. Take caution in where you _tread._" At this, he twisted her wrists until he heard a snap and her gasped scream. Watching her eyes roll back with pain, Loki smirked and dropped her to the floor beside her bed. Turning on his heel, he vanished.

"Thor will _love_ that," he whispered under his breath with a chuckle when he arrived, masked by invisibility, at the conference room. He pulled on a quick disguise and sat amongst the crowd of agents.

When the doctors wheeled Heidi in, he barely suppressed a smirk. He wondered how severely he had softened her reserve. Perhaps she would beg for his forgiveness? Her intense knowledge of Yggdrasil would be of great use to him and after all of his time stalking and studying her, he refused to leave the compound without her. He had memorized her. Her aura, her _mere presence_, was intensely familiar to him. He reached with his senses and brushed against her until he had acquainted himself with her feel. He was intensely interested in the girl with such a keen prudence for danger.

Quirking a brow, Loki hid in the shadow of the agents and watched as she reacted to his nearness. Heidi's shudder made his heart leap. She knew his feel. Despite being presented as cured, she looked exhausted and again Loki marveled at the fragility of mortals. A mere scare or life-threatening incident and they were shaken to their very core. Returning to the scene at hand, he watched as Heidi departed for her quarters with interest. He could always use the paranoia around his escape to frighten her further needlessly for fun… or he could always just grab her and run.

Perhaps his urgency in taking her and completely dominating her stemmed from his loss and bitterness. Counting his chips was rather easy at the moment; he only had a few, one of which was his magic and the other was the girl. He knew he was better off being solitary, but he was not a solitary creature by nature. The trickster needed people, an audience, someone to _fool. _Whether he needed someone on his level to share with or it was simply his urge for mischief, he needed this girl. Soon.

He had become so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't realize that his magic had landed him in the middle of her living room. Hearing her soft humming in the shower, Loki melted into the shadows to lie in wait for his unsuspecting prey.


End file.
